Railway.



H. W. SANFORD.

RAILWAY.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. 26, 1917.

Patented June 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET l- 81402 mtoz ('1 "Conan;

H. W. SANFORD.

RAILWAY.

APPLICATION man NOV. 26. 1917.

1 ,268,390. Patented June 4, 1918.

2 SHEETSSHEET- 2- Mi Q - HIIIIIHIIIIIHII v HUGH W. SANFORD, 0FKNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE.

RAILWAY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June a, 1918.

Application filed November 26, 1917. Serial No. 204,078.

dumping loose material through the bottom of a car at a chosen point onthe track of the railway.

The object of the improvement is to provide a railway having cars ofeconomical and durable construction and which areadapted to theautomatic opening of the bottom for dumping and to the subsequentautomatic closing of the bottom preparatory to receiving a new load, thetrack or way coiiperating with the cars to open and close bottom doorsin the latter to the end that a train of such cars may be made to pass adumping station and automatically dump at such station, the bottom ofeach car afterward automatically closing, while the train is in motionand without the assistance of an attendant, the man in charge of thelocomotive being the only person necessary to operate the train, if thetrain be operated by a locomotive, and no person .at all being needed inconnection with the train, if the train ismoved by gravity or cable orother means capable of operation without. the presence of a person onthe train.

My improvement is applicable to cars like that described in theapplication of Charles A. Griffith, Serial Number 119,908, filedSeptember 13, 1916, for a patent for an improvement in railways.

This improvement relates to the doors which form the bottom of such acar as is described by said application.

In the accompanying drawings,

Figure l is a side elevation of a car and a portion of a trackillustrating my improvement;

Fig. 2 is a transverse upright section im mediately at the rear of thecar, the bumper being omitted;

Fig. 3 is an upright, longitudinal section showing the car in engagementwith a means for raising the bottom doors;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail view showing the meeting edges of twodoors;

Fig. 5 is a bottom view of the forward portion of one of the doors.

Referring to said drawings, A, A, are track rails resting on ties, A andpiers, A B, B, are ordinary car wheels applied to the ends of axles, C,G. the car. D D are side beams forming portions of thecar. Theends ofthese beams are joined to and stayed by the bumpers, D and the endwalls, I), of the body. The beams are metal channels. Boxes, C seated inthe channels of the beams receive the axles, C.

The end of the car at the right as viewed in the drawings is the forwardend of the car, and it is to be understood that the car moves forwardfor dumping and for closing the doors after the load has been dischargedfrom the car. The discharge is downward between the rails, A, and theplace at which the discharge is effected, is called the dumping station.Beneath the rails, A, the material discharged from the car may bereceived by a chute or another car or any other suitable device, notshown.

Three doors, E, are placed in series to form the bottom of the car.Since the rearmost of these three doors controls the series, it may beregarded as the first of the series and for that reason he describedfirst. Said door has at its forward edge three pairs of hinge members, Gand C as hereinafter described. At its rear edge two bars or arms, E areattached to the lower face of the door and project a little way rearwardof said rear edge. On the rear end of the car body and in an uprightplane transverse to the length of the car body are a pair of large bellcranks, E pivoted at E to the car body. Each of said bell cranks has ahook, E adapted to extend beneath the adjacent bar or arm, E each bellcrank D is the body of I closed position,

and cause said arm to crank so as to move said hook toward said plane.Each of said hooks has a bevel face, E adapted to be engaged by theadjacent bar or arm, E when the latter is carried upward by the upwardmovement of the rear portion of the door into the closed position.

When said bars, E thus rest on the hooks, E said door is held firmly initsupper or and this condition continues until said hooks are movedoutward far enough to allow the bars, E to descend. Said hooks are madeto move outward by raising the horizontal arms, E of the bell cranks. Tocause said arms to rise automati eally when the car reaches the dumpingstation, a cam member, A is placed at each side of the track in ositionto engage the lower edge of the a jacent latch arm, E, ride upward onsaid cam member during the further forward movement of the car, the arm,E, being extended far enough to bring said cam member into the path ofsaid arm. It is to be observed that said door will not become releasedunless both arms, E", are raised. Hence said door will not ordinarilybecome released through the accidental raising of one of said arms bymeans other than one of said cam members. Thus the latch mechanism isduplex, and both parts must, ordinarily operate simultaneously beforethe door becomes released.

Said door has at its front edge three pairs of hinges each comprising ablock, C and a strap, C Rivets, C extend through said strap and saidblock and the door, E, and bind said members to each other. The underpart of the block, W, has a concave portion, (3", to receive the upperpart of the axle; while the strap, C", has a reversely concave portion,(3", which conforms to the lower side of the axle. The forward part ofthe door and the hinge block, C are curved to be approximatelyconcentric to the axle, C. When the forward portion of the door is thusformed, the door can turn on the axle, C, without lifting the nextforward door with the load of coal or other material resting thereon andwithout lifting the coal or other material resting on the forwardportion of the door which is being turned, the forward portion of theturning door merely turning like a horizontal cylinder on which rests amass of loose material. K

When the forward'part of the door is not across said axle must rise whenthe part of the door.

rearward of said plane turns downward.

'Said forward part can not so rise without lifting all that restsuponit. That would be the rear edge of the next forward door with itsload of material plus the material resting upon the rear door forward ofsaid axial line. Furthermore, the material in the portion of the carbetween the front edge of the rear door and the rear end wall, D of'thecar body at times tends to pack or mass and resist the movement of thefor- Ward edge of said door toward said end wall, D

When the forward edge of said door is curved as above described, thereare substantially no lifting and no packing or massing of material whenthe part of the door rearward of the axle is turned downward,

there being merely such frictional resistance as results from the nextforward door .and

the load material bearing upon the curved bearing downward upon the partof the first door forward of said plane to turning the first door.

In practice, it has been found that this frictional resistance issubstantially uniform and always so small as to readily be overcome bythe weight of the door, and the load thereon, at the rear of said plane.

Although, as above described, duplex latch mechanism is provided forholdin the rear part of the first door in its elevated position,provision should be made for accidental conditions which release saiddoor. If that occurs when the caris not at. an unloading station, it isdesirable to avoid the releasing of the other doors. For that reason,the next forward door should normally bear upon the forward door alongthe line, C", which is upward and rearward of the forward edge, C, toallow the main part of the first door to fall to and rest 11 on thetiesof the track before the edge, 5", moves above and out of engagementwith the rear edge of the next forward door.

At the same time, it is desirable that, when the car is at an unloadingstation, disengagement between the edges; of the two doors be eflectedearly enough during the turning of the rear door to allow the rear edgeof the next forward door to descend portion of the path of the firstdoor before the first door enters the path of of the door far enough-1,2 ee,seo

the second door. This is to avoid slamming of the first door against thesecond door and thereby interfering with the movement of the doors andavoiding injury to the doors.

This inter-relation of the two doors can best be established by makingthe hinge block, C of considerable thickness so as to bring the uppersurface of the door to a suitable distance from the axle, C, whereby thedistance between the edge, C", and the normal contact line, isincreased. Such distance is also needed to allow the forward door todescend.

At each of the hinges a rivet, 0 extends through the door plate and thehinge block, C for securing said block to said plate.

The forward portion of the second or middle door is curved and providedwith hinges as described concerning the first door, andthe second doorand the rear edge of the third door are brought into relation with eachother as described concerning the first door and the second door, therear edge of said second door extending far enough rearward to lie uponthe forward part of the first door, as already described, when saiddoors are in the raised or normal position.

At the forward end of the car there is a shaft, E which is horizontaland transverse to the length of the car and has its ends resting in theside beams, D On the forward edge of said door are three cars or hingemember, E through which said shaft extends. The rear edge of said doorrests upon the forward part of the second door when the latter is in theupper or closed position.

As' soon as the first or latch-controlled door has been released, asabove described, the portion rearward of its hinge turns downward inresponse to the preponderating action of gravity upon said portion,while the curved portion of said door which is forward of 'said hingeslides along the material and the second door resting thereon until thefirst door is freed from the rear edge of the second or middle door.Thereupon said second door in similar manner turns upon its hinge andfrees its forward edge from the rear edge of the third door. Thereupon,the third door similarly turns upon its hinge; but it does not releaseanother door. Y

Thus I have a series of doors forming bottom sections, each being hingedat its forward portion on an axis which is horizontal and transverse tothe body of the car, the rearmost door being held in its upper or closedposition by latch mechanism and each of the other doors being held inposition by the next rearward door so long as the latter retainsitshorizontal or closed position. Obviously the number of doors in theseries may be varied.

Attention is now asked to the fact that the 'doors are hinged at thelevel of the car axles, and that said level is fixed by the radius ofthe wheels, B. This tends to bring the load close to the level of therails. Furthermore, it must be noted that each door is extended downwardbetween its front and rear edges, whereby the load supported by saiddoors is brought still closer to the level of the rails.

When all the doors have been released and allowed to turn for thedownward discharge of the load, the continued movement of the car bringsthe lower face of the forward door into engagement with a stationary cammember, A*, located upon the track between the rails, A, and rising to asufficient height to force the rear portion of saidv door upward alittle way above its normal position. Said cam member is extendedhorizontally far enough to maintain its engagement with the forward dooruntil the other two doors have successively in the same manner engagedthe inclined portion of said cam and have been forced upward thereby.\Vhen the rear or latch-controlled door has been thus forced upward, thebars, E engage the bevel faces, E of the hooks, E and force said hookslaterally until said arms are above said hooks, whereupon the lattermove inward into position beneath said bars. After this has been done,the three doors pass successively out of engagement with the cam member,A. As soonas the forward door is out of such engagement, it fallsslightly until its rear edge rests upon the forward part of the nextdoor. and as soon as the next door passes out of engagement with saidcam member, the rear.

portion of said door falls until its rear edge rests upon the forwardpart of the rear or latch-controlled door. As already described, thelatter door is now being held by the latch mechanism. Thus all the doorshave been raised and secured automatically and the car is again readyfor a new load.

It will now be seen that a train of'such cars may be moved forward overthe rails, A, to and beyond the dumping station, the doors beingautomatically opened and afterward automatically closed while the trainis in motion. This gives high capacity to the dumping station. Anynumber of trains comprising convenient numbers of such cars may pass thedumping station in quick succession. In connection with this rapid andautomatic operation, the form of the rear part of the first and seconddoors, whereby resistance to turning is reduced to a minimum, isimportant.

In the form shown by the drawings, the Wheels, B, are relatively smalland the doors move downward between the rails. Hence the portions of therails at the dumping station are supported on piers or columns, Ainstead of cross-ties.

The arrangement of tracks for the movement of cars or trains beforearriving at or after leaving the dumping station does not form a part ofthis invention. Hence I have illustrated only the portion of the trackat which the car doors are released and afterward closed.

I claim as my invention,-

LThe combination of a car body, axles supporting said body formaintaining hori zontal position and movement of said body, wheelscarrying said axles, a. first bottom door hinged near its forward edgeon a line which is horizontal and transverse to the supporting said bodyfor maintaming a horizontal position and movement of said body, wheelscarrying said axles, a metal plate first bottom door having its rearportion curved to be substantially concentric to the hinge line of thedoor, a shaft which is horizontal and transverse to the length of thecar, pairs of superposed hinge members surrounding said shaft, the upperof said -hinge members being of suflicient thickness to materially spacethe upper face of the doorfrom the hinge line, releasable means forsupporting the opposite edge of said door when the latter is in theclosed position, a second shaft which is horizontal and transverse tothe length of the car body and a second bottom door forward of saidfirst door and hinged at its forward part on said shaft and said bottomdoor having its rear 3. The combination of a car body, axles supportingsaid body for maintaining horizontal position and movement of said body,wheels carrying said axles, a first bottom door hinged near its forwardedge on a line which is horizontal and transverse to the length ofsaid-body, the rear upper face of said door being curved substantiallyconcentric to its hinge line, releasable means for supporting theopposite edge of said door when the latter is in the closed position, asecond bottom door forward of said first door and also hinged near itsforward edge on a line parallel to the hinge line of the first bottomdoor and having its forward part curved substantially concentric to thehinge line and having its rear edge normally resting upon said curvedupper face of said first door, and a third bottom door hinged at itsforward part on a line parallel to the hinge lines of the other doorsand having its rear edge normally resting on said curved part of thesecond door, substantially as described.

4. The combination of a car body, axles carrying said body, wheelscarrying said axles, two bottom doors one hinged to one and the other tothe other of said axles and each extending to both sides of its axles, athird bottom door hinged on a line which is parallel to said axles,latch mechanism at one end of the car body, two of said doors Intestimony whereof I have signed my name this 23rd day of November, inthe year one thousand nine hundred and seventeen.

HUGH w. SANFORD.

